To The Batpoles! Batman 1966

It's been quite a while since we've taken a look at "The Ring of Wax"/"Give 'em the Axe" , but it's finally this arc's turn for an examination of its first completed draft script. How well did Jack Paritz and Bob Rodgers do at sticking to Semplian ideas of Batman? Where did they not go into enough detail to get their story across? And what do we notice about a certain Gotham City politician? We be...

Here is an audio promo of our latest episode! Nancy Northcott joins us once again to discuss women on Batman . This time, we're focusing on the Egghead/Olga team-up episodes. Are they as full of sexism as we'd expected from a 1967 TV show? What do we make of the leggy babe technician at the Radium Center? Is crime fighting "better left to the men"? What's implied by Batgirl 's "Sixth sense"? And o...

It goes without saying that  Batman '66 wouldn't be Batman '66 without Adam West . Never mind Keaton and the others; Adam's our Batman! Adam's hometown of Walla Walla, Washington , celebrates Adam's legacy on and around his birthday of September 19 , dubbed "Adam West Day" . In this e pisode, Brian Marsmaker from the Adam West Day planning committee and Adam West Day founder Jonathan Grant join us...

Recently on BAT BITS we talked about what went into writing the recap we see at the start of part two of many Batman episodes. Then we noticed that the recap of "The Joker Goes to School" is considerably longer than any other Season One recap. This time, we look for clues as to why this recap lasts 2 and a half minutes, when all of the others are less than 2:00! Subscribe to our Patreon for $2 a m...

In their years of podcasting about Batman 66, Tim and Paul have covered a number of parodies and ripoffs of the show, from MAD magazine to Batfink . But a listener has informed them of another one, b from the March 1988 issue of Cracked magazine. Even more than a year out from the 1st Michael Keaton Batman movie, interest was running high with still very little known about the film, so cast reunio...

E ric Elliot 's labor-of-love project to convert the 1960s treatment for the unmade film Batman Meets Godzilla into a comic has finally been completed! Eric scripts and a squad of 10 artists handle the artwork. So how does it look? On the latest Bat Bits, we review issue 3. Listen to Bat Bits by subscribing to our Patreon for at least $2 a month! At $4 a month you'll get that AND our monthly discu...

At last, we're again joined by novelist  Nancy Northcott to discuss the portrayal of women in Batman 66! We pick up near the start of Season Three, with the episodes "The Unkindest Tut of All" and "Louie, the Lilac." Can Tim, Paul, and Nancy survive S3? Have any three people used the word "cringe" more frequently in the space of 45 minutes? How is it that the Bat-season with more female villains a...

As Tim and Paul have examined first draft  Batman scripts, it's become clear that the draft recaps of part one that you hear at the start of part two are often completely rewritten for the final. But why did this rewriting take place? What were the goals of the recaps that Lorenzo Semple and co. thought weren't being served as written by the contributing writers? In the latest Bat Bits, we compare...

This time, we conclude our discussion of the draft script for the show's second Riddler story, "A Riddle A Day Keeps the Riddler Away" , featuring a VERY different, and surprisingly lethal, climactic scene at the Queen of Freedom Monument! We also see an instance of writer Fred DeGorter not quite getting Batman . The Caped Crusader isn't so much warm and friendly to Commissioner Gordon as a take-c...

This time, we continue our discussion of the draft script for the show's second  Riddler story, "A Riddle A Day Keeps the Riddler Away" , picking up with the Dynamic Duo 's escape from Riddler's spinning deathtrap! Who impersonates Batman, and why does the script try to hide that info? Why did Gordon think that Batman was dead? What country is King Boris from? We'll dig into all of it! Listen to B...

This time, we continue our discussion of the draft script for the show's second Riddler story, "A Riddle A Day Keeps the Riddler Away"! We touch on how Fred DeGorter wrote the Riddler vs how the lines were re-written, Robin inadvertently insulting Batman , and more, including a certain establishing shot that we didn't get in the finished episode…. Listen to Bat Bits and see the script we're discus...

This time we begin a new series on the draft script for the show's second Riddler story, "A Riddle A Day Keeps the Riddler Away" ! We cover everything from rearranged scenes to a missing answer to a riddle, as well as some obvious cost cutting! Listen to Bat Bits and see the scropt we're discussing by subscribing to our Patreon for at least $2 a month! For $4 a month, you ALSO get our monthly disc...

We're back with a one-off episode to share several exciting pieces of news! First, Lorenzo Semple's Batnotes memo (also known as "Bat Poop"), sent to prospective Batman writers, outlines Semple's concept of the show. It was thought by many to be lost, but now it has resurfaced! This time we share the seven most surprising things we found in this 14-page memo. It also inspires Paul to take a long-a...

This time we wrap up our discussion of Lorenzo Semple Jr's  BATNOTES memo for prospective BATMAN 66 writers. These last few pages of the memo cover the show's running characters, including a surprising early take on Aunt Harriet, as well as the now-familiar format of the show and the question of showing supered titles on the screen rather than narration! Listen to Bat Bits and see the memo we're d...

On the latest Bat Bits, we discuss  Lorenzo Semple Jr 's guidelines regarding Batman 's arsenel: The Batmobile, the Batcave, and all his various devices. We discuss reasons to label everything in the Batcave and Batman's general resourcefulness. Whatever he needs is always there when he needs it! Listen to Bat Bits and see the memo we're discussing by subscribing to our Patreon for at least $2 a m...

Why Batman doesn't carry a gun, and focuses on reforming crooks. How to write Bruce Wayne (square, not stupid!) Keeping the camp incidental to the show; he only goes to the disco because that's where his crime investigation leads him. Our discussion of Lorenzo Semple 's 14-page "Batnotes" memo continues! Listen to Bat Bits and see the memo we're discussing by subscribing to our Patreon for at leas...

Lorenzo Semple's 14-page "Batnotes" memo to prospective Bat-writers lays out the basic things he wanted a writer to understand before attempting a Batman script. In our second episode digging into this memo, we discuss how the villian's real goal often isn't revealed until the end, some surprising revelations on how Semple imagined the GCPD and possible casualties among the henchmen, how murder is...

We had heard before that it existed, and we've finally found it:  Lorenzo Semple 's 14-page "Batnotes" memo to prospective Bat-writers about "a few simple rules and concepts" about what should or should not happen in a Batman script. Tim and Paul want to dig through this carefully, so in this episode they discuss the first few pages, with more to come. In this episode: Qualities of Gotham City, wh...

In 1967,  Yvonne Craig was added to the Batman cast as Batgirl , in an effort to boost the ratings. It wouldn't fly today, but Batman's producers and the media were pretty up-front, and a bit crude, about the effort to add sex appeal to keep the show afloat. This time on BAT BITS, we discuss a TV GUIDE article on Yvonne that serves as Exhibit A on that front, but also gives us some interesting gli...

Lorenzo Semple, Jr. , is the writer entrusted by producer William Dozier with getting the writing side of Batman  off the ground. This time, we take a look at a letter from Semple to Dozier, in which he discusses his plans for the script of "Zelda the Great" ,  a template for Bat-scripts, concerns about Adam West 's acting style, and more. Listen to Bat Bits and see the letter we're discussing by...

On the latest BAT BITS, we conclude our examination of Sheldon Stark's final script for Fine Finny Fiends, including a scene setting relocated for lack of the right set, what Finella was supposed to be wearing in the final scene, the shifting explanations of who knows where the banquet will be held, and changes in the script to give the audience just enough information… Listen to BAT BITS and see...

On the latest Bat Bits, we begin an examination of Sheldon Stark 's final script for Fine Finny Fiends . Somewhat inexplicably, this arc's theme is fish rather than birds. Maybe because penguins eat fish? Tim and Paul find some additional fish references that got cut, and some of them with good reason. Or maybe not? Also we find some gags that were added after this script, some puzzling stage dire...

On the latest Bat Bits , we wander out into the wider Dozierverse to look at the correspondence between William Dozier , producer of Batman and The Green Hornet , and Bruce Lee , whom Dozier tried several times to find a vehicle for before landing on the role of Kato. We get some of Bruce's feelings about his 1965 screen test, get some of Bruce's comments about how "Gong Fu" should be portrayed on...

While Rik Vollaerts' early draft of The Bookworm Turns  was very  different from what was broadcast, surely the final script is exactly what we saw? But no, that's never true; some changes always occur at the hands of the director, and perhaps the actors. A significant scene (and significant henchman) disappeared from this story as broadcast. Was it simply cut for time, or were there questions of...

A lingering question from the Bookworm arc of Batman, as broadcast, is: Why was a Commissioner Gordon impersonator seemingly shot at the opening of the bridge? As we conclude our look at the draft version of the script, we finally get an answer! Listen to Bat Bits and follow along with a PDF of the script by subscribing to our Patreon for at least $2 a month! For $4 a month, you ALSO get our month...